Caitlin Clark and Hannah Stuelke lead Hawkeyes past Northwestern
The Hawkeyes were a little slow out of the gates. They allowed some offensive rebounds, turned it over a few times and allowed Northwestern to hang around in the first quarter. The quarter itself flew by with no whistles over the last 6:09 and Hannah Stuelke found herself sitting at the scorers table waiting to check in for what seemed like an eternity. She watched Caitlin Clark put up 11 points to help the Hawkeyes to a 22-16 lead.
“I was sitting there for a long time, but the view from right there is great,” said Stuelke.
When she finally got to check in at the beginning of the second quarter, she was a dominate force. In just six minutes, Stuelke racked up 11 points and five rebounds, including three offensive boards. Her best play, with under a minute left in the first half, was a steal on a Northwestern inbounds pass and then a full length of the floor sprint to the other end for a layup. It gave Iowa a comanding 47-32 lead going into the locker room for halftime.
“I just tried to come in and be a little spark,” said Stuelke. “Sometimes we need it. Today, we got off to a little slow start, but once we got rolling, we were perfect.”
Stuelke herself was almost perfect. She finished with a career-high 17 points on 8/11 shooting, while grabbing nine rebounds, including four on the offensive end. The Cedar Rapids native has quickly become a crowd favorite.
“I am used to it (the crowd),” said Stuelke. “I used to be a part of the crowd, now they’re cheering for me. It’s cool.”
Despite the slow start, Iowa ended up outscoring the Wildcats in every quarter, including a 50-31 run over the middle two quarters to really put them in the drivers seat. On the night, the Hawkeyes shot 35/59 (59.3%) from the floor and did not have a quarter where they shot under 50%. That will win you a lot of basketball games. Four players finished in double figures as Iowa rolled to a 93-64 victory. Their first win against Northwestern in Carver since 2019.
“We put together back-to-back really complete games and that makes me feel good this time of year when you’re putting together that consistency,” said Bluder.
Caitlin Clark nearly put together her eighth triple-double of her career, but despite staying in for an extra few minutes in the fourth quarter, the last rebound eluded her. She finished the night with 20 points on 6/14 shooting, as well as nine rebounds and 14 assists. Lisa Bluder talked about the risk in keeping someone on the floor in that situation.
“It’s hard (to weigh risk and reward), but a triple-double is so special. It is so hard to get and I tell her what I need her to do. I needed her to go get a rebounds,” said Bluder. “There is risk involved in that, but there’s risk in walking into a restaurant downtown. I want my players to have those kinds of accolades, but there is a point you do have to take her out.”
Monika Czinano ended the night with 18 points on 6/8 shooting, as well as six rebounds and three assists. McKenna Warnock nearly had a double-double with ten points and eight assists, while Kate Martin added eight points.
Also of note, after scoring 11 points in the opening quarter, Caitlin Clark passed Ally Disterhoft for second all-time on the Iowa Women’s Basketball scoring list. She now sits just 687 points behind Megan Gustafson for most points in a Hawkeye uniform.
After picking up a ranked win at Michigan on Saturday, today was the first of three games in a row against unranked opponents. It gives the Hawkeyes an opportunity to take care of business against teams they should beat and build some momentum before the schedule ramps back up with a game at #3 Ohio State.
“You can’t have any slip ups at home. We play Penn State next and we want to keep the momentum going,” said Bluder. “We’ve played, in my opinion, eight straight quarters of good basketball. This is when you want to start putting it all together, and I feel like we are and we’re going to continue to do so.”
What went well for the Hawkeyes?
1. They shot the ball well and everyone scored. Seems like a given that shooting the ball well will win you games, but they shot it exceptionally well this evening. Nearly 60% from the floor and their lowest quarter was the first quarter where they were 8/16. On top of the good shooting, everyone was involved. Six players had 6+ points, while four scorers reached double figures. When the Hawkeyes are at their best players not named Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano are scoring.
2. Hannah Stuelke. This was already addressed, but she has been quite the spark off the bench since they holiday break. Over the last four games, Hannah has 41 points, 23 rebounds and just one turnover, while only playing 44 minutes. Her confidence seems to be growing by the second and she could be a major factor down the stretch if it continues.
Up Next…
With the win, the Hawkeyes move to 13-4 on the season and 5-1 in Big Ten play. The next opponent on the schedule is the Penn State Nittany Lions, who will travel to Iowa City for an 11:30 lunchtime tip on Saturday. They come into the game with an 11-6 record, but were defeated 80-51 by Nebraska in Lincoln tonight. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
